


Snow in the Peninsula

by The_Infamous_Jack



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Boeshane Peninsula, Flashbacks, Gen, Jack Harkness Backstory, One Shot, Past Lives, Past Version(s) of Jack Harkness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:07:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Infamous_Jack/pseuds/The_Infamous_Jack
Summary: One-Shot about a ten year old Jack Harkness- then known as Javic Piotr Thane- experiencing snow for the first time. Just a short, sweet story, as well as a little look into Jack's childhood on the Boeshane Peninsula.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Snow in the Peninsula

The Boeshane Peninsula could be described in two different ways: a tiny planet, or a giant beach. The locals preferred to call it a tiny planet. Another planet in the vast universe. Tiny but powerful.

But there was no denying that the entire planet was covered in nothing but sand, grasses, dunes and ocean. And the weather barely changed. Sometimes it would rain, sometimes it got cold, sometimes it got hot. But all in all the temperature averaged at around twenty degrees Celsius, and the sky was clear and the air was dry. Weather anomalies were not a cause for alarm, but they were rare. Snow was rare.

So when a six year old Gray went charging through the house screaming "the world is ending!" His parents were quick to calm him down, but were surprised themselves nonetheless when they stared out of the windows to see that the entire place was covered in snow. Javic on the other hand went from groggy confusion to exstatic excitement in less than five seconds after looking out of his bedroom window and seeing the usually brown and yellow landscape covered in a never ending sheet of white, and snowflakes as big as his thumb falling from the sky. In his ten years of existence, Javic had never seen snow before, but he'd heard about it. His parents too had only ever seen it twice in their lives. Javic ran down the stairs, hopping vicariously from foot to foot, trying to get his legs into his trousers without falling over. His mother called to him to put a jacket on, but he was already out the door and on his knees, shovelling snow into his hands. Gray tried to follow him but he was pulled back by Franklin.

"Woah there, Gray. Put a jacket on. Don't copy your brother," he advised, helping his wife wrap up the boy until he could barely see out of his scarf and hat. Gray shuffled outside, followed by Franklin. Javic was already making snow angels, whooping with laughter. Franklin picked up a shovel and stuck it into the ground. He whistled.

"It's a good few inches thick," he informed. "The sand's frozen solid."

"Hey, Dad? How do you build a snowman?" Asked Javic. He was stood up now, his hair covered in snowflakes. Franklin walked over and pondered a second.

"Well, you build a big pile of snow. Then put a slightly smaller pile on top of it. For the body and the head." He demonstrated by grabbing a large handful of snow and compacting it into a small hill. He then added more and more snow, patting it down and rolling it across the ground. The two boys followed his example, and very soon they had a good sized pile of snow that could hold the head.

"What are we gonna use for eyes?" Asked Franklin.

"Huh?" Gray was confused. "He has eyes?" He gave the semi-constructed snowman an almost frightened look, as if eyes were going to pop out of it and look right back at him.

"They're not real eyes," explained Javic. "They're just to make him look like he has a face. We'll use stones," he added. But before they could continue, a cry suddenly pierced the air.

"JAA-VIIIC!" Javic looked round in the direction of the cry and grinned as he saw his friend sprinting towards him.

"Kai!" He yelled back, waving at the frantic-looking boy. Kai stopped breathlessly outside their fence.

"Hi, Mr Thane. Weird weather, huh? I've never seen snow before," he greeted, panting in between sentences.

"It's certainly rare," replied Franklin. "Gray over here woke up half the universe when he saw it."

"I thought the sky was falling," elaborated Gray.

"I didn't know what was going on either but my dad said I could play in it, and that's good enough for me."

"Come help us build a snowman," said Javic, concentrating on constructing the head. Kai ran up beside them and enthusiastically started to compact handfuls of snow.

* * *

The three kids stood back and admired their work.

"He looks great," said Kai. "He looks almost like he could stand up and start talking to us."

"Will he actually?" Asked Gray, with another slight note of fright. Javic rested his hands on his knees.

"Maybe," he replied. "You try and stay awake till midnight and you might see him move." Gray's eyes widened at the thought.

"Don't tell him that, Vic, he'll do it and everything," warned Franklin, who was now over by the pathway and shovelling snow away from the door.

"What are we gonna name him?" Asked Kai. Javic stared at their creation. Thinking.

"I don't know. I can't tell what name would suit him." He cocked his head to the side, as if viewing the snowman from a different angle would help to conjure up a name.

"How about Jake?" Kai suggested.

"Jake? For a snowman?"

"Yeah. He has the J from your name. The ay from Gray. And the K from my name. Jake."

"Hm... he seems like a pretty formal guy..."

"How about Mr Jake?" Said Gray. Javic pondered for a second and then grinned at the snowman.

"Nice to meet you, Mr Jake." He shook one of the snowman's stick arms, pretending to greet him. Gray giggled.

The air was growing louder now. Everyone was fully awake, and kids and adults alike were all outside, filling the yards of the large cluster of houses that they called their village. Children's shouting could be heard all over and neighbours greeted neighbours with variations of "weird weather we're having."

A snowball was thrown into the yard. Javic searched for the perpetrator, but couldn't see anyone near them. He turned back around, and almost as soon as he did another snowball was thrown. It landed right on the back of his neck. "Hey!" He swivelled back around, laughter reaching his ears. "I'll get you for that, Lynx!" He swiftly grabbed some snow, mounded it into a ball and threw it at the receding figure of Theodore Lynx: neighbour, classmate, and an all round nuisance. Javic managed to hit him pretty squarely in the chest. Theodore yelled out and immediately bent over to start constructing more snowballs. The two boys were now locked in battle, but it was three against one: Kai had joined in and Gray was attempting to throw snowballs in the direction of Theodore, but they barely made it past the fence. So he stuck to making the ammunition himself and handing it to the two older boys. It wasn't long before more kids were joining in, and they'd moved from the crossfire of Theodore's house and Javic's house into more open space, where sand dunes usually sat. Kids were throwing snowballs left and right, sliding down the dunes and forming teams and gangs. Javic formed his own team. Him, Kai, Gray and two school friends. Lyra Hale and her brother Jax.

Soon, they had managed to claim a tree. It was a good tree. It's roots were raised above the ground, creating a sort of den underneath and bushes surrounded it so it was hard to spot anyone hiding within unless you were purposefully looking. Gray hid underneath, meticulously creating piles of snowballs and handing them to Lyra and Jax, who were squeezed in next to him. Javic had decided to climb the tree, Kai following suit. The leaves and the branches were covered in snow. Kai shook them, causing the snow to fall on top of Javic. Javic put his arms over his head, but he was in good spirits and laughed along.

"Careful," he warned. "You'll waste the snow." He leant over the branch he was sitting on and called down to the others. "Stop throwing snowballs! Let them come to us." The snowballs immediately ceased and the tree went quiet. They watched and waited, trying to stay as hidden as possible. Kai sat next to Javic, silently building snowballs and balancing them on an adjacent branch. Someone walked near the tree. It was Theodore. He started to poke through the bushes and the shrubbery, not thinking to look up into the branches of the tree.

"You gonna come out, Ja-avic?" He drew out the vowel in a taunting manner, but was immediately cut off as Javic gave the signal to start throwing snowballs again. The signal being: him throwing a snowball. Simple yet effective.

Theodore was ambushed from all over and he didn't stand a chance. He shouted, arms over his head, and ran away in the opposite direction.

"Yeah you better run!" Called Javic after him. "You damn coward!" The others joined in, laughing and chanting. The sun was growing high in the sky and it looked like the snow was going to start melting soon. Javic regretted not putting on a jacket: he was soaking wet and freezing. But of course he would never admit that to his mother, desperate to avoid the inevitable "I told you so." He wanted to stay out until the sun set, but Kai said he needed to get back home, and Gray was starting to get whiny.

"I'll race you guys back to the Village!" Challenged Jax, and started running in the direction of the houses.

"Last one there's a Tivolian!" Shouted Lyra, sprinting after her brother.

"Gray can't run fast enough!" Called Javic, dying to beat them all and win the race, but knowing he couldn't let Gray fall behind. He looked over his shoulder. Gray was struggling to keep up. "C'mon Gray, run faster." He took hold of Gray's hand and encouraged him along until they reached their house, out of breath and red in the face. The children waved goodbye to each other. Javic and Gray went inside, relishing the blast of warmth and the dinnertime cooking smells that greeted them.

"Take your shoes off and, Vic... I told you to wear a jacket. Go dry yourself off before dinner." Javic groaned and trudged upstairs, skipping every other step, as was his custom. He grabbed a towel from the bathroom and stopped by his bedroom to look out the window. It was already getting dark. The short winter nights were upon them. But it looked so pretty outside. Dark blue sky casting its reflection onto the never ending sheet of white. Javic looked down into their yard, at the snowman. At Mr Jake.

"Vic! Hurry up for dinner!"

"Coming!" He glanced once more at the view and then hop, skipped and jumped back downstairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if it isn't too good, I wrote it in one sitting and decided to just publish it. I was inspired because it snowed today and that's RARE for where I live. I haven't seen snow for ten years. 
> 
> But I hope you enjoyed it! I like imagining what Jack's childhood would've been like. And I apologise if there are any inaccuracies. I'm still fairly new to the DW/Torchwood fandom (though I'm already completely obsessed, and I would DIE for Jack. He's literally immortal and I'd still die for him).
> 
> And I feel like I should mention that Jack's original name is canonically Javic Piotr Thane. I told my friend this, and they're a massive whovian, but they didn't know that that was his name. So idk if it's common knowledge or not.
> 
> Anyway, that's all! x


End file.
